### 54

You signal to Lieutenant Quang to halt and he and the Watchers immediately obey your command. Quickly you inform them of what you have seen and they agree to investigate the tavern with you. After dismounting and securing your horses, Quang, Bai and Chao hurry around to the rear of the tavern while you and Deng force open the front door. As soon as you set foot inside the empty taproom you hear the sounds of a struggle taking place on the floor above.

Swiftly you ascend a narrow staircase that leads to the upper floor, drawing your Kai Weapon as you bound up the creaky wooden steps. Upon reaching the top of the stairs you see an open trapdoor in the ceiling directly above. Your Sixth Sense screams a warning of danger, but you have barely a second to react before a hulking grey shape drops down and slams you to the floor. The scabrous hairless grey skin of this cadaverous horror reeks of a charnel smell. Foul black fluid drips from its fanged mouth and a baleful green glow radiates from its ragged eye sockets. From the tip of the index fingers of its right hand extends a curved razor-sharp talon.

‘A Nagah Ghoul!’ screams Deng, ‘Ishir save us!’

Nagah Ghoul: COMBAT SKILL 38 ENDURANCE 38

Due to the crushing impact of the Ghoul dropping down on your shoulders and slamming you to the floor, you lose 2 ENDURANCE. It takes the first round of combat for you to get back on your feet, therefore any ENDURANCE points loss you inflict on the Nagah Ghoul in the initial round should not be deducted from its ENDURANCE total. Due to the success of its surprise attack, the Nagah Ghoul reduces your ENDURANCE by 1 in addition to any other damage it inflicts in the first round of combat.

The area at the top of the stairs is too narrow for Deng to be able to help you fight this ferocious enemy.

If you win the combat, turn to 72.